Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 3 July 2019

The Orion test capsule, bottom left, and a Minotaur 4 booster
rocket, center, fall to the Earth, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, as NASA
conducted a full-stress launch abort test in Cape Canaveral,
Fla., for the capsule designed to carry astronauts to the moon.
Associated Press
NASA launches

Orion crew capsule In this June 4, 2019 file photo, Washington Nationals senior vice president Gregory McCarthy, from
left, Ellen Stofan of the National Air and Space Museum, statue donor Allan Holt and Nationals
owner Mark Lerner unveil a statue of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit before an interleague
to test abort system baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Nationals in Washington.
Associated Press

By MARCIA DUNN magnificent," said program Don't recall Apollo 11? Global
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. manager Mark Kirasich. It
(AP) — NASA conducted a will take a few months to festivities have you covered
full-stress launch abort test go through all the data
Tuesday for the Orion cap- collected by the hundreds
sules designed to carry as- of vehicle sensors, he said. By JEREMY REHM at 8:32 a.m. local time, ex- better to learn about the
tronauts to the moon. NASA aims to put astro- Associated Press actly 50 years after Apollo moon landing than the
The capsule was empty for nauts back on the moon You can run a race, hit a 11 astronauts blasted off for Wings Over the Rockies
the morning demo, which by 2024 using its still-in-de- museum, shoot off a rocket the moon, the museum will Air and Space Museum's
officials said appeared to velopment Space Launch or count down to the mo- attempt to set a Guinness weeklong "Apollopalooza "
be successful. System, or SLS, rocket. Tues- ment 50 years ago that Neil World Record by launching in Denver.
Barely a minute after liftoff day's test represents "a re- Armstrong first stepped foot 5,000 model rockets simul- Peanuts character Snoopy
from Cape Canaveral Air ally great, great step for- on the moon. taneously. will make appearances
Force Station, the abort ward today for the team," There's no shortage of "It's going to be epic," said in his astronaut regalia at
motor fired, pulling the Kirasich said. events and exhibits cel- Pat Ammons, spokeswom- Comic Con in San Diego
capsule from the booster This was the second abort ebrating the historic moon an for the museum and its and at Space City in Tou-
about 6 miles (10 kilome- test for Orion, conducted landing. Museums, galler- popular space camp. The louse, France for the count-
ters) up. The capsule con- at a speed of more than ies, concert halls, movie cardboard rockets will be down to man's first steps.
tinued upward another 2 800 mph (1,300 kph). The theaters and towns with an set up in circles represent- Can't join Snoopy? NASA's
miles (3 kilometers), then first, in New Mexico in 2010, Apollo 11 connection will ing the five F-1 engines that Johnson Space Center in
flipped to jettison the abort was lower and slower. be marking the anniversary propelled Saturn V into Houston and the Armstrong
tower. A launch abort system on over the next few weeks, space. Museum in Wapakoneta
NASA chose not to use a Russian rocket saved the particularly for the July 16 The museum has also in- will do public countdowns
parachutes to keep this lives of two astronauts last launch, July 20 moon land- vited space fans around as well. And as part of
test version of the capsule October. They launched ing and July 24 splashdown. the world to launch their their weeklong celebra-
simple and thus save time, again in December, this In downtown Wapako- own rockets that day. So tions on the National Mall,
and so it crashed into the time making it to the In- neta, Ohio — Armstrong's far, people from 29 coun- the Smithsonian National
Atlantic at 300 mph (480 ternational Space Station, birthplace — the festivities tries have joined, including Air and Space Museum will
kph) as planned, the three- where they're still working. include the Moon Festi- Argentina, Vietnam and host "The Eagle Has Landed
minute test complete. "It had been 35 years since val Pageant, a Run to the China, Ammons said. ," a free late-night celebra-
Twelve data recorders anyone on the planet had Moon race and a "Wink at NASA will mark the occa- tion with scavenger hunts,
popped off in bright or- had to exercise their launch the Moon" concert, a nod sion on the eve of the land- stargazing and a count-
ange canisters before im- abort system," NASA astro- to his family's request after ing anniversary with a live, 1 down.
pact, for ocean retrieval. naut Randy Bresnik told re- Armstrong died in 2012. ½-hour broadcast on NASA Some of the world's famous
"By all accounts, it was porters Monday. q In Huntsville, Alabama, TV from several sites, includ- art galleries are also joining
where the Saturn V rocket ing Kennedy Space Center in the fun. Iconic and some
was developed, there'll in Florida, the launch site rare drawings, paintings,
be dancing in the streets. for Apollo 11 crew of Arm- films, astronomical instru-
Residents will moonwalk strong, Buzz Aldrin and Mi- ments, photographs and
down the roads of "Rocket chael Collins. even cameras that were
City," reliving the day they The Astronaut Scholarship flown in space will go on
danced in the streets in Foundation is throwing an display. "It's just extraordi-
1969. astronaut golf tournament, nary how magical these
The U.S. Space and Rocket astronaut parade and as- photographs are," said art
Center is also going for a tronaut pub crawl in Flor- historian and exhibit cura-
world record. On July 16 ida. And there's nowhere tor Diane Waggoner.q